In the fall, our homes need special attention as we leave the hotter months and move into the winter. In this article, we’ll tell you what you need to know about maintaining a home during the fall months.
Importance of Fall Maintenance
Fall maintenance is a valuable part of retaining the value of your home and keeping it safe from damage. Fall brings its own hazards that proper maintenance can defend against. And when fall comes, winter is right around the corner. Maintenance tasks performed in the autumn months prepare the home for those cold winter nights.
In addition to keeping your home safe, proper maintenance procedures ensure that it keeps its curb appeal, preventing your house from becoming the neighborhood eyesore.
Home Maintenance
Let’s start with the home itself. These are the tasks you’ll be performing on the interior and exterior of the building.
Indoor Maintenance
Work inside the home is largely about preparing it for the winter months to come.
- Heating Systems Check: You don’t want to find out on the first cold night of the year that the heater is out of fuel or otherwise doesn’t work. Check its functionality when the temperature is still comfortable and address any issues early.
- Sealing Gaps: Over time, gaps can form in areas like windows and doors. This lets in cold air and makes your home less energy efficient. Tracking down any gaps and resealing them will help keep the cold winter air out and reduce the cost of heating the home.
- Inspecting Insulation: Similarly to tracking down gaps, bad insulation can let cold in. You may be able to visually inspect insulation in the attic, for other areas of the home, and check for drafts that may be coming from weak insulation. Make replacements as necessary.
- Fireplace and Chimney Cleaning: This might have been a part of your spring cleaning routine. If not, now is the time to ensure the fireplace and chimney are free from soot and ash and ready to start a new season of keeping you warm and cozy.
- Pest Control: As the weather cools, pests like rodents and insects look for warm places to stay, which might just be your home. Ensure all possible entries are sealed and consider setting traps or using repellents to keep unwanted visitors at bay.
- Carbon Monoxide and Smoke Detectors: In the colder climate, you’ll be spending more time indoors and may be using heating systems that can be a risk for carbon monoxide. Make sure that your detectors are functioning properly and have plenty of battery power.
Outside Maintenance
Moving outside the home, you’ll find a mix of winter preparations, fall cleaning tasks, and annual maintenance.
- Gutter Cleaning and Repair: In the fall, leaves are going to start falling. Many of those leaves will find their way into your gutters, preventing them from doing their job. Regular cleaning of gutters during the fall will keep your home safe from damaging rain.
- Roof and Window Inspection: Similar to the interior, leaky roofs and windows can impact the heating of your home. Worse, they can lead to leaks and water damage during fall storms. Inspecting them and repairing any damage will prevent that.
- Securing Loose Items: Speaking of fall storms, they bring a lot of wind along with that rain. Any loose items, such as poorly attached shutters or siding can be ripped from the home in a strong storm. Now is the time to batten down the hatches so you’ll be prepared when a storm comes.
- Patio Furniture Storage: The winter months can be harsh on patio furniture. Since you won’t likely be using it in the cold weather, consider moving any furniture you have outside to an indoor storage location to keep it safe.
Garden Maintenance
Now it’s time to move outside the home and into the garden. In this section, we’ll go over what you need to get your garden ready for the winter and to give it a jumpstart in the spring.
- Adding Mulch and Fertilizer: The summer months can be rough on soil, adding mulch and fertilizer will rejuvenate the nutrients it brings to plants and restore structure to soil that may have dried out too much during the summer.
- Pruning and Trimming: Trimming trees is an important part of keeping them healthy. Dead branches take resources from the plant that will already be scarce in the upcoming winter months. By pruning away any dead or dying branches, the rest of the tree can flourish.
- Protecting Perennials and Bulbs: By definition, perennials are meant to survive all year, but some are less resilient to winter than others. Bring those plants inside before winter approaches and provide the rest with an extra layer of mulch for better insulation.
Lawn Maintenance
Fall is a busy time for lawn maintenance. Although growth has slowed relative to the hearty spring and summer months, there’s still a lot of maintenance and preparation to do.
- Final Mowing and Aeration: As fall comes to an end and the growth stops completely for the winter, the time will come when you mow for the last time. That is a perfect time to aerate the lawn so the soil is nice and accommodating to keep the grass healthy over winter.
- Adding Fertilizer: Since your lawn will still have active plants in it, applying fertilizer to it is even more important than doing so in your garden. Find a trusted brand of lawn fertilizer and follow the instructions for fall application.
- Leaf Removal and Composting: Your gutter isn’t the only place where leaves are going to be falling. They’ll also be making a mess of your yard. Gathering them up regularly with a rake will keep the lawn attractive and ensure the grass gets the sunlight and moisture it needs.
- Winterize your Mower: Your mower will be sitting for a while and needs to be winterized. Drain any fuel as that will go bad over the winter months and can gel up in the motor. Change the oil, sharpen the blades, and store it in a warm, dry place so it’ll be ready to go next season.
Get Your Insulation at Builders
If you’ve discovered that your home is in need of insulation installation, you can get all the supplies you need at Builders. You’ll also find the tools and supplies for your other fall maintenance tasks. If you have any questions, our helpful staff will be there to answer them.
